


Homestead

by thehatofaprincess



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic), Fallout (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Fallout AU, M/M, Multi, OT3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 19:41:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9139384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehatofaprincess/pseuds/thehatofaprincess
Summary: There's a bonus coming soon. I love you, Penny, and I hope you like it!





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chemicalconcerto](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chemicalconcerto/gifts).



> There's a bonus coming soon. I love you, Penny, and I hope you like it!

i.  
The threat to camp had been neutralized.  
Dex stepped out of the power armor. The raiders were dead, and he could repair the camp in pseudo-peace. But first--  
“Jack!” he hollered. “Eric?” He came out of the room where they kept the armor, his pistol in his hands.  
Jack appeared just inside the front door of their house, hand up in front of him in a signal for Dex not to shoot. “Eric got hit,” he said grimly, tone matching the look on his face. He disappeared outside again.  
Dex holstered his pistol and cursed. He jogged to catch up with Jack. “How bad?”  
“He’s cut up,” Jack said, hardly looking like he just he’d just gone up against half a dozen raiders. “Surface wounds. Just need a cleaning. Maybe a stitch or two.” He pushed his dark hair out of his eyes. “He got slammed into a wall. Knocked the breath out of him. He's pretty shaken up.”  
Dex nods. “I'll clean him up and you'll keep him calm?”  
“I think that'd be best, yes,” Jack said. “We’ll take him inside first.”  
They came to a stop next to Eric, who was curled into himself, leaning against the wall. He looked smaller than Dex has ever seen him. Eric usually looked even bigger than his five-and-a-half feet when he had a spoon in his hand and a pot on the stove. When he was bandaging an arm. When he was smiling.  
“Come on, Eric,” Jack said gently, sliding his arms around their boyfriend. “I’m going to take you inside, and Dex will bandage you up.”  
Eric nodded and wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck, tucking his face into the crook. “Okay,” he said quietly.  
Dex followed Jack and Eric inside. Jack set Eric on the cot they used to treat wounds instead of their bed or the floor. Dex went around the cot and grabbed some medical supplies from the metal cabinet they kept over there. Jack pulled up one of their chairs and rested his chin on Eric’s thigh. Eric tangled the fingers of one of his hands in Jack’s hair. Dex pulled up a second chair and took Eric’s other arm in one of his hands, holding it still.  
Jack was right. None of Eric’s wounds were serious enough to require the use of a Stimpak. Instead he grabbed alcohol and a clean rag and started to clean the cuts Eric had sustained during the fight. Jack talked quietly with Eric about his optimism that they’d find a group of good people and a place to call home while Dex applied bandages. They switched spots and continued their work. Dex healing, Jack distracting.  
Eric still shook.

ii.  
The first time Dex met Derek, Derek had his hands in the air and Dex’s gun in his face. He was talking.  
Jack had a gun pointed at each the short asian woman and the tall black man. Eric had a shotgun aimed at the tall blond and the injured man on his shoulder. Blood dripped from the injured man’s fingers onto the dusty ground.  
“Please, man. Chill,” Derek said. “We just wanted to trade for some supplies so we can keep our friend alive.”  
Dex didn’t glance at Jack, but waited for his verdict anyway.  
Jack sighed, barely audible. “Weapons down.” He holstered his pistols. In a second, Eric had engaged the safety on his shotgun and rested it on his shoulder.  
It took Dex a little longer to pull his rifle out of Derek’s face. He glanced at the man on the blond’s shoulder. “How bad is he hurt?”  
“Shitty?” the black man asked. “Bad enough that he’ll die if I don’t get the supplies I need.”  
“He got shot,” the woman supplied. “Bad.”  
“Justin can save him though,” the blond said. “He’s a doctor.”  
“A doctor.” Jack repeated. “Justin, you, the blond, and... your friend go with Dex.” Jack looked at Dex. “Send the blond to the main room when you’ve got the other guy on the cot.” He looked at Derek and the woman. “You two are with Eric and me.”  
Dex nodded. “This way,” he said, jerking his head toward the door that lead to their infirmary. Justin and the blond followed.  
Inside, Dex pointed the blond to the cot. “The supplies are in this cabinet,” Dex told Justin. He took a key and unlocked the cabinet, opening it for Justin. “I’ve got some basic, experience-based medicinal knowledge. I can help.”  
Justin was handing him supplies. “Thank you,” he said. “We can’t repay you guys enough.” He turned around and walked back to the man in the cot, setting supplies on a table. He washed his hands in a basin. Dex copied him.  
The blond was looking at the bleeding brunet, brows pulled together over blue eyes, glasses with grubby lenses. “D’you think Shitty’ll be okay, Justin?”  
“Tell Lardo I’ll do my best, Adam.” He was already cutting Shitty’s shirt off of him.  
“I’ll let her know.” Adam kissed Justin’s cheek. “G’luck, Babe.” He looked at Dex. “Is the main room through the other door outside?”  
Dex nodded. “Yeah. You’ll find Jack and the others in there. Eric’s probably feeding your friends.”  
“Thank you. Dex, right? You guys are good people.” Adam slipped out of the infirmary.  
“He’s right,” Justin said. “Kindness is hard to come by, these days.” Justin put gauze in Dex’s hand. “Apply pressure here.” He pressed Dex’s hands to Shitty’s shoulder. Justin went to work.  
Shitty lived.

iii.  
Dex, Jack, Adam, and Justin came back from gathering supplies just after dawn to find Faber smoldering.  
“Oh no,” Jack murmured.  
Dex fisted his hand in Jack’s sleeve. “Do you think Eric’s--”  
Jack pressed his lips together. “He has to be.” He looked at Adam and Justin. “C’mon. Let’s see if anyone’s inside.” They started down into Faber.  
Dex exhaled heavily. “He knows to go to the caves, right, Jack?”  
“If he’s alive,” Jack said slowly, “he’s at the caves.”  
“Uh, fellas,” Adam said, cocking his shotgun. “I think we’ve got a problem.”  
Adam was correct. They did, in fact, have a problem. Namely, the half-dozen supermutants lumbering toward them.  
“There are six of them coming toward us,” Adam said. “I count at least three more in the windows.”  
Jack halted, backtracked. The others quickly followed suit. “We’re outmatched here. We have to get to the caves.”  
“They’ll follow us if we run,” Dex protested. “We’ll be leading them straight to the others.”  
Justin heaved a sigh. “We need a diversion.”  
The four of them were quiet only a second before Adam said, “I’ll do it.”  
They all stared at him, shocked.  
“I’ll do it,” he said again. “I’ll draw them off while the rest of you get to the caves. I’ll meet you there if I can.”  
“Adam--” Justin said.  
Adam cut him off. “You’re a doctor. Dex keeps us running. Jack’s our leader.” He looked at Jack. “I’ll divert them. You’ll have time to get to the caves.”  
“No,” Justin protested, taking Adam’s wrist in his hand. “I’m not leaving without you.”  
Adam pressed a soft kiss to Justin’s mouth. “No time to argue.” He pulled Justin’s hand off of his wrist. “I love you.”  
“Adam,” Justin said, his voice shaking. “Please.”  
“I’m replaceable,” Adam said. “You’re not.” Adam let go of Justin and started running down the hill, toward the horde. “Go, Justin!” he yelled. Adam turned around and, armed with a shotgun, his sword on his back, he faced the supermutants. He shot one in the chest.  
Jack and Dex, who caught him Justin by the arms and started pulling him away. “ADAM!” he screamed, straining against Dex and Jack.  
“Come on, Justin,” Jack said. “We have to go.”  
“We can’t leave him like this, Jack, he’ll die.”  
Dex pulled with Jack and they got Justin moving, entirely against his will. Dex kept moving forward, one foot in front of the other. He couldn’t look back--wouldn’t. He refused to watch Adam be ripped apart. They just had to make it to the caves. Derek would be calm, at least in appearance, and able to handle Justin in Adam’s absence. He would have to.  
But who would console Derek? Adam was his boyfriend, too.  
Adam screamed in pain and rage. Justin whimpered.  
“Don’t look back,” he said. “Don’t remember him like that.”  
Faber burned.

iv.  
Eric looped his arms around Dex’s waist, startling him. He was still in his workshop. Day was breaking already. He put down his wrench and turned around in Eric’s arms. He took Eric’s handsome face in his hands. “Was I in here all night?”  
“Mhmm,” Eric agreed, mostly asleep. “Jack sent me t’come get you. He says you hafta come t’bed now.”  
“Okay,” he said. “Did you two get any sleep last night?”  
“I fell ’sleep. I think Jack stayed up. I dunno how he does it.” He let go of Dex’s waist and took his hand. “C’mon,” he said softly. “Let’s go.”  
Dex used the support of Eric’s hand to steady himself as he stood up straight for the first time in hours. Getting around on his prosthetic leg was still took a bit of getting used to for the first few steps of a series. It had taken months, almost a year, to get the design right, but he’d done it. He and Lardo were on their feet again, so to speak.  
Once Dex had regained his balance, he let Eric lead him out of the room, turning off lights as he went. Together, they walked down the hall.  
“Kaj,” Eric said, “didn’t put up a fight at bedtime last night and is, miraculously, still asleep.”  
Kaj was Derek and Justin’s son, a little blond thing with big blue eyes and a personality akin to a friendly puppy. He followed Eric around the kitchen and Dex around his workshop and Lardo while she kept track of everything in Samwell Common. He had seemingly endless energy and seemed to be everywhere at once.  
He reminded them of Adam.  
Dex laughed. “That’s good. Derek and Justin deserve a decent night’s sleep. How’s little Chris doing?”  
Chris was Christopher ‘Little Shits’ Duan. Lardo had given birth to him six months ago, in a seven hour ordeal that had nearly caused Dex to faint. He was adorable and mild mannered, though, with the craziest eyebrows Dex had ever seen. Dex loved him.  
Dex also loved how happy he made everyone.  
Since their encounter with the Deathclaws that had taken both of Lardo’s legs below the knee, Shitty’s eyes, Jack’s left eye, Dex’s right leg right above the knee, Derek’s right arm above the elbow, and scarred up Eric’s torso, spirits had been pretty low. Chris’s birth had mostly changed the attitude of the the Common for the better.  
Eric smiled. “He was being fussy earlier, but I think he’s finally settled down enough for Mom and Dad to get some sleep.”  
Dex smiled.  
They came to their room. Eric crawled in bed next to Jack almost immediately. Dex tugged off his shirt and pants. He sat down on the edge of their bed and took off his prosthetic, propping it up next to their bed. He was left in a tanktop and a pair of boxers. He rolled over, tucking himself next to Eric, who carefully settled the blanket over him.  
He felt Jack’s hand on his shoulder. “You have to stop doing that,” he said softly.  
“I know,” he said, wrapping his arm around Eric’s waist. “I’m working on an arm for Derek. I want it to actually work.”  
Jack moved his hand to Dex’s neck, running his thumb over the line of his jaw. “You’re a good boy, Dex,” he said softly.  
“We still miss you in our bed, though,” Eric chirped sleepily. “When we wake up, we’re havin’ sex, and then y’all can get back to your important tasks and such.” He tugged Jack and Dex closer to him. “I have needs, y’know.”  
Jack and Dex smiled at each other and then kissed Eric’s head.  
“Sounds good to me,” Dex said, making sure his arm looped Jack’s waist, too.  
Jack’s blue eye sparkled with quiet happiness. “Deal,” he said softly. “But, for now, sleep.”  
Dex’s eyes closed.


End file.
